abstraction–creation...abstraction-creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. a r...

60
ABSTRACTION–CREATION Post-War Geometric Abstract Art from Europe and South America

Upload: others

Post on 19-Jul-2020

20 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

ABSTRACTION–CREATIONPost-War Geometric Abstract Artfrom Europe and South America

Page 2: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i
Page 3: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

ABSTRACTION–CREATIONPost-War Geometric Abstract Artfrom Europe and South America

Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London

8 SEPTEMBER – 6 OCTOBER 2010

Matteo Lampertico Arte Antica e Moderna, Milano

26 OCTOBER – 18 DECEMBER 2010

Josef Albers

Carmelo Arden Quin

Max Bill

Arturo Bonfanti

Antonio Calderara

Sergio Camargo

Lothar Charoux

Lygia Clark

Gianni Colombo

Carlos Cruz-Diez

Geraldo de Barros

Hermelindo Fiaminghi

Anthony Hill

Judith Lauand

Antonio Llorens

Raúl Lozza

Heinz Mack

Kenneth Martin

Mary Martin

François Morellet

Aurélie Nemours

Hélio Oiticica

Lygia Pape

Bridget Riley

Luis Sacilotto

Mira Schendel

Jesús Rafael Soto

Klaus Staudt

Victor Vasarely

Page 4: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

2

Introduction

‘The artistic age of representational fiction is coming toan end. Man is increasingly becoming insensitive toillusory images.’

Manifesto Invencionista, Arte Concreto Magazine No. 1,August 1946, Buenos Aires.

‘. . . painting should be constructed entirely from purelyplastic elements, that is to say planes and colours. Apictorial element has no other significance than itselfand consequently the painting possesses no othersignificance than itself.’

Theo van Doesburg, Manifesto of Concrete Art, ArtConcret Magazine, 1930.

The title Abstraction-Creation refers to the Europeanabstract art movement of the same name founded byTheo van Doesburg in Paris in 1931. This somewhatloose association of artists can be defined as adheringto abstraction derived from the simplification of form andmathematical rigour. The group increasingly lookedtowards geometric abstraction and concrete art.Although many of the artists in this exhibition movedaway from Van Doesburg’s notion of geometric abstrac-tion, they all championed a purely non-representationalabstract art that was not derived from observed realityand began with the idea that abstract art is the search forthe absolute and the struggle for pure meaning.

This exhibition brings together works by early Europeanmodern masters such as Max Bill, Josef Albersand Victor Vasarely along with later proponents ofConcretism in South America including Hélio Oiticica,Lygia Clark and the lesser know figures, Judith Lauand,Lothar Charoux and Geraldo de Barros. This exhibitionalso displays early works by British Constructivist artistssuch as Anthony Hill and Kenneth and Mary Martin whofurther explored geometric abstract art through the useof mathematical theories and the juxtaposition ofmodular forms. Although geographically and historicallydisparate, all of these artists looked to abstraction withrenewed fervour in the post-war era and saw it as amode of expression that made a clean break away fromthe restraints of subjective representation.

Many artists from South America made the consciousdecision to favour Paris over New York as the centreof avant-garde art after World War II. Repressivegovernments in both Brazil and later Argentina, forcedartists to exile to Europe. However, the production ofjournals expounding theories on geometry and newabstract movements such as Raúl Lozza’s Perceptismo

and the Argentine Arte Concreto-Invención Magazine,kept artistic creativity alive despite the difficult politicalsituation. Both of these journals are on display in thisexhibition.

If artists from South America came to Concretism laterthan their European counterparts, they also interpretedEuropean Concretism in subtle and different ways, oftenpushing its boundaries and playing with extending formsinto three dimensional space. European artists exploredlinks with South America also, in particular Max Bill, whoexhibited at the Museu de Arte, São Paulo in 1950 andwhose work was a major influence in Brazil. OtherEuropean artists followed Bill in their explorations ofSouth America, including Victor Vasarely and FrançoisMorellet. As a result of his influence, Concrete Art was amajor expression of avant-garde art both in SouthAmerica and Europe.

Like Europe, South America’s relationship withabstraction was not one single phenomenon. Countlessmanifestos and groups were formed and written about.This exhibition gives a taste of a number of these,including Grupo MADI, Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención, Art Frente and Arte Ruptura in South Americaand GRAV, Grupo T and the Concrete Art movement inEurope. Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore thisdialogue between two cultures.

ArteConcretoMagazineNo.1,August1946,BuenosAires

Page 5: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

3

Introduzione

Abstraction-CreationArte Astratta e Geometrica del Dopoguerra in Europae Sud America

‘La funzione rappresentativa dell’arte è ormai arrivataad un punto morto. L’uomo è sempre più insensibile alleimmagini illusive.’Manifesto Invencionista. Arte Concreto Magazine n. 1,Agosto 1946 Buenos Aires.

‘L’arte deve essere costruita esclusivamente da elementiplastici puri, e cioè piani e colori. Un elemento pittoriconon ha altro significato che sé stesso e, di conseguenza,il dipinto non ha altro significato che sé stesso’Theo van Doesburg, Manifesto dell’arte Concreta, ArtConcrete Magazin, 1930

Il titolo Abstraction-Creation fa riferimento all’omonimomovimento artistico fondato da Theo van Doesburg aParigi nel 1931. Gli artisti che ne facevano parte, purdifferenti sotto molti punti di vista, erano accomunatida una analoga concezione artistica, imperniatasull’astrazione intesa come semplificazione della formae rigore matematico. Benché molti si allontanassero inseguito dalla rigorosa definizione di Theo van Doesburgper imboccare un percorso del tutto autonomo, laconcezione non rappresentativa dell’arte, del tuttoslegata dalla realtà naturale, e l’astrazione intesa comericerca dell’assoluto rimasero un patrimonio comune.

La mostra riunisce opere di celebri maestri europeidell’arte moderna come Max Bill, Victor Vasarely, JosefAlbers, e di esponenti del concretismo sud-americanodi una generazione successiva come Helio Oiticica,Lygia Clark, insieme ad artisti meno noti come JudithLauand, Lothar Charoux e Geraldo de Barros. Sonoinoltre presenti opere precoci dei primi costruttivistiinglesi come Anthony Hill, Kenneth and Mary Martinche esplorarono a fondo le possibilità espressivedell’arte astratta basandosi sulle teorie matematichee l’accostamento di forme geometriche pure. Nonmancano infine artisti italiani come Lucio Fontana,Antonio Calderara, Mario Nigro, Piero Dorazio edEnrico Castellani.

Benché attivi in diversi epoche e in differenti ambitigeografici, tutti guardano all’astrazione con nuovofervore nel secondo dopoguerra e vedono in essa unmezzo per rompere definitivamente con l’arte figurativa.

Molti artisti sudamericani, nello stesso periodo, scelgonoParigi invece di New York come centro dell’arte

d’avanguardia. I governi repressivi in Brasile edArgentina favoriscono il loro esilio. Nonostante la difficilesituazione politica, le riviste che divulgano le teoriesull’arte geometrica e astratta come Perceptismo di RaulLozza e il periodico argentino Arte Concreta-Invention,mantengono vivo il dibattito anche in patria .In mostrasono presenti anche copie di queste riviste.

Se gli artisti sudamericani si avvicinano all’arte astrattapiù tardi dei loro colleghi europei, è anche vero che essitrovarono soluzioni differenti, ad esempio forzando ilimiti del dipinto fino a estendere le forme nello spaziotridimensionale. Scopo di questa mostra è propriomettere a confronto queste due differenti culture.

D’altra parte non mancano legami diretti fra gli artistieuropei e il Sud America. A cominciare da Max Bill, cheespose al Museo di arte di San Paolo del Brasile e il cuilavoro ebbe notevole fortuna nel paese, altri artistieuropei seguono le sue orme in Sud America, compresiVictor Vasarely e François Morellet. In seguito a questicontatti, l’arte concreta fu una delle più importantiespressioni dell’arte di avanguardia sia in Europa chein America Latina.

In Sud America, come anche in Europa, l’arte astrattanon fu un movimento unitario. Numerosi furono iraggruppamenti artistici e i manifesti programmatici.Questa mostra ne dà una pur sommaria panoramica,dal Grupo Madi all’Associacion Arte Concreto-Invenciòn,da Art Frente ad Arte Ruptura

Page 6: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

4

Carmelo Arden Quin [Uruguay, b.1913]

Circulo Verde, 1946Oil on cardboard in wooden frame42 × 34 cm

ProvenanceAcquired from the artistRuth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos AiresVan Eyck Gallery, Buenos AiresArevalo Arte, Miami

ExhibitedMontevideo, Ateneo, 1a Exhibicion MADI Internacional, 1946Madrid, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, La Escuela del Sur, El Taller Torres Garcia and its Legacy, June to August 1991Travelled to:Austin, The Alfred M. Huntington Art Gallery, September 1991 to December 1991, Cat. No. 113Monterrey, Museo de Monterrey, January 1992 to April 1992New York, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, September 1992 to January 1993.Mexico D.F., Museo Rufino Tamayo, February 1993 to May 1993.

LiteratureEl Taller Torres Garcia, The School of the South and its Legacy, edited by Mary Carmen Ramirez. 1992, University of TexasPress, p293Carmelo Arden Quin 1935-1958, Edited by L’image et la Parole, Paris 2008, p201, Image 44

‘[Arden Quin along with Rothfuss and Kosice] . . . coined the name “Madi”, which has several possible meanings but principallythe Madis explored new forms of expression based on the ideas of movement, the broken frame and the desire to involve theviewer: Madi sculpture was to be “articulated movement” and Madi painting “articulated planes of colour strictly proportioned andcombined.” In his public reading of the “Introduction to the Manifesto” in August 1946, Arden Quin stressed the concrete andfully independent nature of Madi creations: “We express nothing, we represent nothing, we symbolize nothing. We create thething in its presence alone, as pure immanence. The thing is, in space and in time: IT IS.’

Laura Maggioni, Geometry Beyond Limits: Latin-American Contemporary Art from the Jean and Colette Chequi Collection,2010 p.30

Page 7: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

5

Page 8: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

6

Geraldo de Barros [Brazil, 1923 – 1998]

Pampulha, São Paulo, Brazil, [From the Series Fotoforma], 1949Silver gelatinEdition 5 of 15Print 200629 × 28 cm

ProvenanceLuciana de Barros, Belgium

LiteratureFotoformas, Geraldo de Barros, Cosac & Naify Editores, 2006

‘In certain aspects or elements of reality, and especially in details that are normally hidden, Geraldo sees fantastical andolympian abstract signs: lines that like to intertwine with others in an unpredictable and sometimes chance alchemy ofcombinations, and which invariably result in pleasing formal harmonies. Composition for Geraldo is a necessity; he orders it bychoosing from the millions of linear segments he sees, by superimposing negative on negative, modulating the tones of his onlycolors; black and white, intensifying the ink, in his studio work that is so meticulous and pleasing. Geraldo’s masters are thepainters who renounce the figure, from Kandinsky to Mondrian to Bill, and from those worlds of such vague and mysteriouscontent, poor and renounced, yet at the same time so ambitious and infinite to the initiate, he achieves a pure language, stillindistinct, but nevertheless an artist’s language. This is then directed at other initiates who for now search for analogous butindeterminable states of the soul in the compositions.’

‘. . .Geraldo is now going to Europe, on one of these study grants that have been so fashionable over the centuries. In the past,one went to Rome, now the road has changed and he is off to Paris. To the hortus conclusus of his “fotoforma”, as a group ofinitiates calls this form of photographic expression, Geraldo will be able to add the latest discoveries made by the daringindividuals who habitually gather in Paris.’

Pietro Maria Bardi, Published in the brochure for the Fotoformas exhibition, held at the São Paulo Art Museum (MASP) in 1950

Page 9: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

7

Page 10: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

8

Raúl Lozza [Argentina, 1911 – 2008]

Numero 278 (Perceptismo), 1950Oil on woodSigned and dated and numbered ‘278’ verso94 × 60 cm

ProvenanceAcquired from the artist, Buenos Aires, 2007

ExhibitedBuenos Aires, Teatro “La Mascara”, Perceptismo, 1950

‘As a result of the debates of the Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención, Raúl Lozza found his own solution, a movement calledPerceptismo . . . which he launched in 1948 after separating from the Asociación in 1947. Lozza’s theory takes the notions ofobjectivity and bi-dimensionality to their logical conclusions without reverting to European art practices. Perceptismo developedinto a system where the objective elements of art – colour and form – are measured and balanced in order to cancel any effectsof illusionism (recession).’

Gabriel Perez-Barreiro, Arte Concreto Invención Arte Madi 1944-1950, Edition Galerie Von Bartha, Basel, p.14

Perceptismomagazine,editedby

RaúlLozza,N

o.1October1950

Page 11: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

9

Page 12: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

10

Geraldo de Barros [Brazil, 1923 – 1998]

Belo Horizonte, [From the Series Fotoforma], 1951Silver gelatinEdition 12 of 15Print 200628 × 28.5 cm

ProvenanceLuciana de Barros, Belgium

LiteraturaFotoformas, Geraldo de Barros, Cosac & Naify Editores, 2006

Page 13: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

11

Hélio Oiticica [Brazil, 1937 – 1980]

Meta Esquema – 154, Projecto No 433, 1954Oil on paperTitled verso21 × 24 cm

Page 14: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

12

Antonio Llorens [Uruguay, 1920 – 1995]

Composición No. 4, 1955Oil on boardSigned and dated verso, inscribed on label ‘Antonio Llorens Composición No. 4 Pintura – 0.43 x 0.67 6000 El autor Medanos1955 – Montevideo’63 × 39 cm

Page 15: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

13

Page 16: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

14

Hermelindo Fiaminghi [Brazil, 1920 – 2004]

Alternados Horizontal e Vertical, 1955/1978Enamel on woodSigned and inscribed ‘Alternados Horizontal E Vertical 1955/1978 Tec. Esmalte Fosco s/modera Med 053 x 053’ verso53 × 53 cm

ProvenancePrivate Collection, São Paulo

Page 17: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

15

Victor Vasarely [Hungary, 1908 – 1997]

Wombi – 2, 1956Oil on thin card on boardSigned ‘Vasarely’ lower right46 × 40 cm

Page 18: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

16

Lygia Pape [Brazil, 1927 – 2004]

Untitled, [From the Series Tecelares], 1958Wood cutSigned and dated ‘Pape 58’ lower right23 × 23 cm

‘Lygia Pape produced the series of woodblock prints titled Tecelares over the course of half a decade of monumental changein the Brazilian art world. She began the series in 1955 as a founding member of Group Frente, the Rio de Janeiro Concreteart group formed in 1954, and continued to produce the woodblock prints through the dissolution of that group in 1957 and theadvent of the Neo-Concrete group in the spring of 1959. Pape’s early Tecelares were understood to be emblematic of Concreteart when they were exhibited in São Paulo and Rio at the Exposiçáo National de Arte Concreta [National Exhibition of ConcreteArt] in 1956-1957. But in 1959, Pape chose several works in the series as her contribution to the first Neo-Concrete exhibition,and Ferreira Gullar used a work from this series as an illustration in the Neo-Concrete Manifesto of the same year. Thus theTecelares are both Concrete and Neo-Concrete.’

‘. . . .Because of the way Pape handled her materials, her sleight of hand did not result in a high-octane moiré distortion. Thoughthe artist used a ruled edge and a compass to create the lines that compose the work, slight variations in her mark making, andin the size of the lines, betray the fact that a hand rather than a machine made the forms. The delicate support made of rice paperalso absorbs the ink and creates feathered, impresice edges. Moreover, the black ink surface is not uniform but instead delicatelyreveals the wood grain of its original source. Pape has written about the Tecelares, “The line is totally controlled. . . . The onlything that I allowed myself was to let the porousness of the wood emerge in the black like a small vibration.” Instead of a slick,hard edged work in sync with the ideas of the São Paulo Concrete artists, Pape, with her sensitive handling of her materials,imbued her work with the expressive, non-manifesto, characteristics also embedded in the time-consuming practice andhandmade qualities that give the series its title.’

Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, The Geometry of Hope, Latin American Abstract Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection,Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, 2007, p.169

Page 19: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

17

Page 20: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

18

Judith Lauand [Brazil, b.1922]

Untitled, 1959Oil on canvasSigned and dated verso33.2 × 23.7 cm

‘Lauand’s work, like that of many other Concrete artists, reveals the influence of Gestalt theory on the depiction of the illusionof movement in a painted image. The psychologist Rudolf Arnheim has written a great deal about the use of Gestalt theory inlearning how people interpret images; his ideas also help in understanding Lauand’s work. According to Arnheim, the viewerknows that shapes in an image are not actually moving but appear to be striving in certain directions; he refers to thisphenomenon as “directed tension.” Lines of force radiate outward from the center of geometric shapes; in the case of the square,which frequently forms the basis of a Concrete composition, the lines of force flow outward, both to the sides and to the corners.The Gestalt principle of grouping would cause the viewer to interpret arrangements of black bars...as single units, like theindividual arms of a windmill, with each one appearing to twist and stretch toward the picture plane.’

Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, The Geometry of Hope, Latin American Abstract Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection,Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, 2007 p.154

Page 21: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

19

Max Bill [Switzerland, 1908 – 1994]

Rote Basis, 1959Acrylic on canvasSigned and dated verso on canvasSigned, titled and dated verso on stretcher34.7 × 34.7cm

‘In the early 1950s Bill developed important relationships with artists in Brazil. He had a 1950 exhibition at the recently foundedMuseu de Arte in São Paulo, he participated in the first Bienal de São Paulo in 1951 and won the international prize for sculpture,and he delivered a series of lectures on architecture and society in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in 1953, at the invitation ofthe Brazilian government. The Museu de Arte Moderna in São Paulo had sponsored the 1949 show Do Figurativismo aoAbstraccionismo as well as a series of lectures in the late 1940s that inspired many Brazilian artists to initiate experiments withabstraction. But it was Bill, along with the Brazilian critic Mario Pedrosa (author of important studies on art and Gestalt theory),who generated a widespread interest among young Brazilian artists in systematic geometric art.’

Lynn Zelevanksy, Beyond Geometry: Experiments in Form, 1940s-70s, The MIT Press, 2004, p.52

Page 22: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

20

Anthony Hill [Britain, b. 1930]

Relief Construction, 1962Perspex, aluminium, anodised aluminium53 × 61 × 14.7 cm

ExhibitedParis, Galerie Denise René, 1962London, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, Aspects of Modern British and Irish Art, 2001

‘My last paintings were orthogonal but simple in structure and concerned more with optical and physical problems – these soonconflicted with my interest in mathematical concepts and resolving this situation became another factor in moving out of paintingaltogether in 1956.’

‘My present interests are in developing an autonomous art expression where the work will function and operate with light, spaceand movement. This . . . can be seen as an open field . . .where the artist still works empirically although he will have moved intoa new realm – the development and rationale of which becomes increasingly less dependent on personal expression andincludes researching towards goals hitherto unprecedented while being the major development to come out of abstract art.’

Anthony Hill, Statement, ICA, London, February 1963

Page 23: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

21

Page 24: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

22

Bridget Riley [Britain, b.1931]

Displaced Parallels, 1962Emulsion on boardSigned and dated left hand side batten; signed, titled and dated verso50.8 × 114.3 cm

ExhibitedLondon, Juda Rowan GalleryLondon, New Art CentreLondon, Gallery One, Bridget Riley, April-May 1962Nottingham, Nottingham University, Bridget Riley, 1963London, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, Aspects of Modern British Art, 2007

Page 25: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

23

Gianni Colombo [Italy, 1937 – 1993]

Strutturazione Fluida – Ottica, 1963Plexiglass and metal foilIncised signature21 × 15.5 × 15 cm

Page 26: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

24

Lygia Clark [Brazil, 1920 – 1988]

Caranguejo [From the Bichos Series], 1963Multiple edition 1984AluminiumEdition no. 484 of 1000Dimensions variable

Accompanied by original box with pamphlet on the inspiration andorigins of the Caranguejo series

‘For all the changes it went through, Clark’s work never quite lost the marks of its grounding in the “constructivist” movementsin Brazil of the 1950s. These were born in a period of great artistic and intellectual excitement in the country. While AbstractExpressionism was emerging in New York, contemporaneously with l‘art informel, l’art brut and tachisme in Paris in the aftermathof the war, Brazil was being exposed to the pioneer generation of European abstract artists: Mondrian, Malevich, Klee, Moholy-Nagy, the Russian Constructivists, the Bauhaus artists and others, as well as younger “concrete” artists like Max Bill and JosefAlbers. Their work was seen first-hand at the early São Paulo Biennials in the 1950s; Bill and Albers both lectured in Brazil duringthe same period. If on the one hand these influences represented the typical delay suffered by peripheral cultures in the arrivalof ideas from the metropolitan art centers (though Le Corbusier was lecturing on architecture in Latin America, including Brazil,as early as 1929 and 1936), on the other hand they corresponded to the needs of a progressive middle class intent on developingBrazil...As Renaldo Brtio has written in his excellent study, the Brazilian constructivist movements represented the desire of anew intellectual generation to be “absolutely modern”.

‘. . .The “Bichos” are exactly poised between the cerebral schematism of geometry and the pulse of life and nature. They addressthe spectator on an active as well as a passive level. The spectator either picks up the object and plays with it or moves thehinged metal parts of the larger structures as they stand on the floor. Clark herself fought a constant battle for people to be ableto continue to handle and play with the sculptures after they had passed into public and private collections. They were neverintended to be merely looked at. Clark wrote, “The Animal has his own and well-defined cluster of movements which react tothe promptings of the spectator. He is not made of isolated static forms which can be manipulated at random as in a game; no,his parts are functionally related to each other, as if he were a living organism, and the movements of these parts of areinterlinked. The intertwining of the spectator’s action and the Animal’s immediate answer is what forms this new relationship,made possible precisely because the Animal moves – i.e. has a life of its own.’

Guy Brett, Lygia Clark: In Search of the Body, Art in America, July 1994

Page 27: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

25

Page 28: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

26

Page 29: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

27

Josef Albers [Germany, 1888 – 1976]

Study for Homage to the Square: Respected, 1964Oil on Masonite81.3 × 81.3 cm

ProvenanceThe Estate of Josef AlbersThe Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, Connecticut (no. JAF 774)Pace Wildenstein, New YorkPrivate Collection, London

ExhibitedWashington D.C., Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Josef Albers: The American Years, Oct. 30 – Dec 31, 1965Travelled to:New Orleans, Isaac Delagado Museum of Art, Jan. 23 – Feb. 27, 1966San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art, June 2 – June 26, 1966Santa Barbara, Art Gallery, University of California, July – Sept 7, 1966Massachusetts, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Sept. 23 – Oct. 29, 1966

‘It is understandable that what, in recent years, has attracted most attention to the work of Josef Albers has been his concernsince 1949 with the paintings he called “Homage to the Square.” . . .They form the peak of form-color relationship and hence ofform-color-space effect, and also (together with the “Structural Constellations”) of the principle of economy. But also, and notleast, they are the results of a wise humanity and a creative mind. Over and over again the squares are designated as mediationpictures. And so they are, to a much greater degree than most other contemporary art.’

Eugen Gomringer, Josef Albers, George Wittenborn Inc., New York, N. Y. 2, pp. 137-138

Page 30: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

28

Heinz Mack [Germany, b. 1931]

Untitled, 1964Aluminium in perspex boxSigned lower left27 × 20 cm

Page 31: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

29

Mira Schendel [Switzerland, 1919-1988]

Vector, Letras e Linhas X, 1964Monotype, letraset and artist intervention (fold) on paper23 × 23 cm

ProvenancePrivate Collection, São PauloPrivate Collection, London

Page 32: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

30

Mary Martin [Britain, 1907 – 1969]

Permutation in Black and White, 1965Stainless steel and painted wood on perspex and woodSigned and dated verso35.5 × 35.5 × 9.5 cm

ExhibitedLondon, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, Aspects of Modern British and Irish Art, 2009

‘Central to an understanding of the impact of Martin’s work must be the social channels through which British post-warconstructivism was disseminated. Amongst the ‘constructionists’ who had been producing and exhibiting abstract work from thelate 1940s onwards, Mary and Kenneth Martin, Anthony Hill and John Ernest surely sit at the centre of a London-based networkof acquaintances built on personal commitment to hard-edged concrete art and to ongoing teaching activity that drew on, andinformed, artistic practise. As if to reiterate the sense of community of effort, striking points of convergence between the workof Mary Martin, Hill and Ernest can be identified, such as the common adoption of a diamond format in their constructed reliefsaround 1964-66, along with the investigation of 45-degree angle patterns. Whilst such affinities were always tempered by theindividual artistic project at hand, it is tempting to consider Mary Martin’s use of these motifs from the early 1960s onwards asa prompt for her peers.’

Jonathon Hughes, An Ongoing Legacy from Mary Martin: The End is Always to Achieve Simplicity, Huddersfield Art Gallery, 2004

Page 33: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

31

Page 34: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

32

Antonio Calderara [Italy, 1903 – 1978]

Misura Quadrata, 1966Oil on panel36 × 36 cm

ProvenanceMarlborough Galleria d'Arte, Rome

ExhibitedVerona, Studio la cittáGenoa, Galleria d'Arte Il SalottoMilano, Galleria MilanoGenoa, Galleria la PolenaStockholm, Konstruktiv Tendens, 1980

Page 35: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

33

Arturo Bonfanti [Italy, 1905 – 1978]

Composizione, 1967Oil on boardSigned verso60 × 70 cm

ProvenanceGalleria Michelangelo, BergamoGalleria d’Arte Lorenzelli, Bergamo

Page 36: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

34

Carlos Cruz-Diez [Venezuela, b. 1923]

Physichromie No. 379, 1968Signed and dated and titled ‘Physichromie No 379 Paris Janv. 1968’ versoOil on wood with cardboard and reflective plastic61 × 61 cm

ProvenancePrivate Collection, GermanyGalerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf

Page 37: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

35

Page 38: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

36

Mary Martin [Britain, 1907 – 1969]

Perspex Group on White (D), 1969Perspex on woodSigned and dated verso61 × 61 × 26.6 cm

ProvenanceJohn and Paul Martin

ExhibitedBritish Council, 1st Nurnberg Biennale of Constructive Art, 1969, no.13London, Royal Academy of Arts, British Painting 1952 – 1977London, Tate Gallery, Mary Martin, 1984, No.51London, Camden Arts Centre, Kenneth Martin & Mary Martin: Constructed Works, 2007, no.64London, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, Aspects of Modern British Art, 2008

Page 39: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

37

Aurélie Nemours [France, 1910 – 2005]

Altair, 1969Acrylic on canvasSigned and dated ‘NEMOURS 1969’ verso73.5 × 92 cm

ProvenanceGalleria Lorenzelli, Bergamo

Page 40: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

38

Lothar Charoux [Austria, 1912 – 1987]

Untitled, c1970sGouache on paper100 × 35 cm

‘. . . . there were those who were shocked by the extreme economy of means employed. “People like to complícate everything.But, at rock bottom, what impresses them most is simplicity itself. What surprises is the perfection of the line. It is what happenswhen someone sees the ocean for the first time. In reality there are just two colours, green and blue, separated by a line, thatof the horizon. . .” Charoux’s unpretentious commentary illustrates the concept of the “organic line,” the virtual line between twoplanes, enunciated by Lygia Clark. While in Clark’s work the “organic line” marks the place of junction, of the folding, and thespinning of planes in space, in Charoux’s work the line that begins by circumscribing a form, subsequently becomes a “line oflight.” The intermittent pulsations of the white scratches on the black, and the vibration of the complementaries on a field of colorreaffirm, again and again, the luminous condition of the line in his work.’

Maria Alice Milliet, Lothar Charoux, The Poetics of the Line, Dan Galeria, São Paulo, 2005, p.40

Page 41: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

39

Page 42: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

40

Page 43: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

41

François Morellet [France, b. 1926]

Tirets 60° 90°, 1970Acrylic on boardSigned, dated and titled verso80 × 80 cm

ExhibitedLugano, Studio d'arte Contemporanea DabenniMerate, Studio Casati

‘From an early stage in my career I looked for ways to take the fewest possible subjective decisions in the process of the creationof a painting. I wanted to be radically different from the lyrical abstraction of the École de Paris, which was the mainstreamtrend at that time, represented by popular artists such as Mathieu.

‘An earlier influence on how I thought about my painting came from a stay in Brazil, where my wife and I planned to emigrateto escape a possible third world war that threatened to spread from Korea during the early 1950s. In 1950 Max Bill had a bigexhibition at the Museu de Arte Moderna in São Paulo, which had a tremendous impact. His work and approach (what he called“Concrete art”) was a major influence in South America from that time and until now. I went over to Brazil shortly after this show,which I discovered only through photographs and enthusiastic comments from young Brazilian artists.’

François Morellet talks about his work, Tate Etc, Issue 16, Summer 2009

Page 44: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

42

Jesús Rafael Soto [Venezuela, 1923 – 2005]

“Pour Lenk” Ambivalencia, 1971Oil on wood and metalSigned and dated and inscribed ‘Pour Lenk’ verso90 × 90 cm

ProvenancePrivate Collection, GermanyPrivate Collection, Caracas

Page 45: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

43

Klaus Staudt [Germany, b. 1932]

Gleichmäßig Hell/Dunkel, 1972-73Plexiglass and wood reliefSigned and dated on label verso40 × 40 × 6 cm

‘A belief. . . .which has its origin in “Nouvelle Tendence,” is that the work should not be painted; colour should either come fromthe material used in its construction, or from the light falling on it – in effect an anti-painting stance. But for Klaus Staudt especially,it was this play of light which became such an important aspect of his art. In a typical work, subtle differences of colour and toneappear on each facet of the individual units, according to the angle of the light source; or by light reflected onto those in shadow.Each individual unit receives and reflects light in a different way, according to its positioning. The appearance of these works issubject to constant change as the light alters in the course of the day.’

John Carter, Klaus Staudt, Hartmut Böhm Concrete and Constructive Art from Germany, Beardsmore Gallery, London, March2004

Page 46: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

44

Sergio Camargo [Brazil, 1930 – 1990]

Untitled, 1973White Carrara marbleEngraved ‘Camargo’ on base31 × 12 × 12 cm

Page 47: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

45

Sergio Camargo [Brazil, 1930 – 1990]

No.398, 1974White Carrara marble18 × 20 × 20 cm

‘. . .one of the work’s singularities is the drastic reduction of the quality of materials, of any surface effects, of secondary opticaldisturbances. To begin, a phenomenological reduction is practically imposed – the work questions the pure appearance, neverthat which has already appeared. The white of the Carrara marble (later, also, the Belgian-black stone) would be thus lessmatter than sign of material possibility. Lackluster, almost without veins, the marble appears as transcendental matter parexcellence.’

Ronaldo Brito, Sergio Camargo, Cosac & Naify Edições, 2000, p.38

Page 48: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

46

Kenneth Martin [Britain, 1905 – 1984]

Order and Change (Black) 1, 1977Oil on canvasSigned and titled verso91.5 × 91.5 cm

ExhibitedLondon, Waddington and Tooth Galleries, Kenneth Martin, 1978London, Juda Rowan GalleryNew York, Sperone Westwater Foster Inc. Kenneth Martin, 1980London, Arts Council, Kenneth Martin: The Late Paintings, 1985Bottrop, Quadrat Bottrop Moderne Galerie, Kenneth and Mary Martin, 1986, No. 31London, Camden Arts Centre, Kenneth Martin & Marry Martin: Constructed Works, 2007, No.37

‘In 1969 I realized I could develop drawings by the use of chance. I could make a sequence independent of my personality. Icould be the spectator. Hence Chance and Order. These works were not made by knowledge or erudition. All was discardedexcept a numbered field, the character of the activitiy of the drawing of lines and my sense or art with which to start at thebeginning again.’

Kenneth Martin, Chance and Order, The Sixth William Townsend Lecture, Waddington Galleries publictation, 1979 in KennethMartin & Mary Martin: Constructed Works, Camden Arts Centre, 2007, p.43

Page 49: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

47

Luis Sacilotto [Brazil, 1924 – 2003]

No. 1195, 1995Indian ink and gouache on paperSigned lower right and numbered lower left50 × 50 cm

ProvenancePrivate Collection, LondonPrivate Collection, São Paulo

Page 50: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

48

Luis Sacilotto [Brazil, 1924 – 2003]

Composition 00431, c1990sEnamel painted metal sculptureEngraved and numbered ‘Sacilotto 00431’34 × 36.5 × 18 cm

Page 51: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

49

Biographies

JOSEF ALBERS [Germany, 1888– 1976]Born in Bottrop, Germany Josef Albers trained as a teacher beforegoing on to study art in Berlin and Munich and most significantlyin Weimar at the Bauhaus. He later become a teacher at theBauhaus from 1923-33, first at Weimar and then at Dessau,teaching furniture design, drawing and calligraphy. After the forcedclosure of the Bauhaus, Albers moved to the United States wherehe taught at the Black Mountain College, North Carolina, where hisstudents included Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly and RayJohnson. He later taught at Yale. Albers first solo exhibition was atthe Peri-13dico ‘El Nacional’ in Mexico City, 1936. Albers mademany trips to Mexico which inspired his series of paintings,lithographs and screenprints entitled Homage to the Square, whichdemonstrate his interest in colour interaction and tonal variations.Albers died in New Haven in 1976.

CARMELO ARDEN QUIN [Uruguay, b. 1913]Carmelo Arden Quin was born in Rivera, Uruguay in 1913. In 1934he moved to Montevideo and studied under Joaquín Torres García.Arden Quin began to experiment with curved wood and irregularconvex and concave forms after being influenced by Torres Garcia’sgeometric forms and ideas about constructivist art. During the 1940sArden Quin moved to Argentina, where he co-founded the politicaland artistic group MADI, with such artists as Rodolfo Uricchio andGyula Kosice. That the art object should break with the figurativetradition and need no further reference to the outside world otherthan its form, was an important leitmotif for the artists associatedwith MADI. Some of their most influential devices were the use ofirregular shaped or trimmed frames, mobile wooden forms andplayful bright colours.

MAX BILL [Switzerland, 1908– 1994]Born in 1908 in Winterthur, Switzerland, Bill trained at the Bauhausin Dessau from 1924-27 under the tutorage of Josef Albers, WassilyKandinsky and Paul Klee. From 1931 Bill abandoned figuration inhis work in favour of geometric abstraction, adopting Van Doesburg’stheory of ‘concrete art’, that is painting ‘entirely conceived andformulated.. .before its execution’. From 1932-36 Bill was a memberof the Paris based artists group Abstraction-Création exhibiting withthem for the first time in 1933. In 1936, Bill formulated the Principlesof Concrete Art, promoting it as a movement both in Europe and

South America, inspiring numerous groups; most significantly theconcrete art movement in Brazil. Bill exhibited at the Museu de Arte,São Paulo in 1950 and participated in the 1st Bienal de São Pauloin 1951 winning the international prize for sculpture. In 1944 Billfounded the magazine Abstrakt Konkret organising an exhibition ofthe same name at Kunsthalle, Basel. Bill co-founded the Ulm Schoolof Design in 1951, where he was the principle until 1956. Bill died inBerlin in 1994.

ARTURO BONFANTI [Italy, 1905– 1978]Born in Bergamo in 1905, Bonfanti moved to Milan in 1926. His firstsolo exhibition was in 1927 in Bergamo. From 1946 he travelled toParis meeting, Magnelli, Schneider and Arp and to Zurich where hemet Max Bill. He also travelled to London where he met BenNicholson and Victor Pasmore. In 1952 Bonfanti exhibited worksconcerned with motion and cinematography at the VIII Festivalof Amateurs, Cannes and was awarded the prix du Film desMarionettes. In 1965 he participated in the IX Quadriennale of Rome,1968 the XXXIV Biennale Internazionale, Venice and the X Biennaleof San Paolo del Brasile in 1969.

ANTONIO CALDERARA [Italy, 1903– 1978]Italian painter and graphic artist, Antonio Calderara was born in 1903in Abbiategrasso. He had his first solo exhibition in 1923. Calderarabegan as a figurative painter, the majority of his works inspired by thehazy light of Lake Orta, where he lived for many years. It wasn’t until1957/58 that he turned to painting geometric forms and patterns.Influenced by Piet Mondrian, and in particular Josef Albers’sconstructivist conception, Calderara’s work demonstrates an allimportant concern for colour and light. From 1963-66 his canvaseswere composed of quadratic squares of colour, from which lightseems to emanate. Although Calderara was interested ingeometrical proportion and order, his work is separated from theconcrete movement by the lack of concern for rationality. Heexhibited in 1969 at Kunstmuseum, Lucerne and in 1977 at StedelijkMuseum, Amsterdam.

SERGIO CAMARGO [Brazil, 1930– 1990]A successful and influential artist in Latin America, Camargo spenta number of years studying and exhibiting in Paris. His practiceconcentrated on sculpture after seeing works by Brancusi, Arp and

Page 52: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

50

Laurens among others. Although he was born and lived in Rio deJaneiro, Camargo was not part of the Concrete or Neo-Concrete Artmovements that were prominent there from the 1950s onwards. Henevertheless exhibited at the Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna in Riobetween 1953 and 1960. His tendencies gravitated towards kineticart and he exhibited with Carlos Cruz-Diez and other kinetic artistsat the Galerie Denise René in Paris in 1963. Nevertheless, Camargonever formally joined the kinetic art movement. He won theinternational prize for sculpture at the Paris Biennale in 1963 and thesculptor prize at the São Paulo Biennial in 1965. Camargo alsorepresented Brazil at the Venice Biennale in 1966. In 1970 he wasawarded the prize for best sculpture of the year by the Associationof Art Critics of São Paulo.

LOTHAR CHAROUX [Austria, 1912– 1987]Lothar Charoux was born in Vienna but moved to Brazil in 1928.From 1948 onwards, he turned his attention to constructivist issues,founding the Grupo Ruptura in 1952 with artists Waldemar Cordeiro,and Geraldo de Barros. It has been pointed out that Charoux’sparticipation in the Grupo Ruptura led to a greater level of maturityin the Concrete Art of that period. Charoux’s work often exploresoptical games, luminosity and movement. During the 1950s hecreated a series of black drawings in which he explored theopposition of the white line in relation to the black surface. Charouxreceived the tribute of a retrospective exhibition at the Museum ofModern Art of São Paulo and at the Museum of Modern Art of Rio deJaneiro in 1974.

LYGIA CLARK [Brazil, 1920– 1988]Lygia Clark was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She moved to Rio deJaneiro in the 1940s to study painting. During the early 1950s shelived and studied in Paris. On return to Brazil in 1952, she firstexhibited her abstract paintings at the Ministry of Education andCulture in Rio. Clark followed the Concrete Art movement and wasmember of the Grupo Frente. This was a group of artists, amongthem Lygia Pape, who first exhibited together in 1954. However,unlike the ideas of the Concrete Art movement, Clark thought of thedivisions of one geometric form to another as organic and in 1959she signed the Neo-Concrete Manifesto. She was one of a numberof artists who also founded this movement. Clark’s closeprofessional relationship with Hélio Oiticica is mentioned by anumber of scholars as it influenced Brazilian art significantly. Duringher career, Clark increasingly incorporated the spectator in her artthrough sensory experiences and participation. She eventuallydedicated her professional life to this practice, blurring the linesbetween art and therapy.

GIANNI COLOMBO [Milan, 1937– 1993]Born in Milan in 1937, Colombo, a leading Kinetic artist, studied atthe Brera Academy in Milan from 1956-1959. In 1959 he exhibited atGalleria Azimut, Milan run by Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani.Between 1959 and 1960 Colombo founded the experimental groupGruppo T which had close ties with the Nouvelle Tendance group.Colombo’s work demonstrates a strong interest in physics,experimenting with new technology including electrical and magneticmechanisms as well as neon lights. His first solo exhibition was heldat Galleria Pater in Milan in 1960, where he exhibited his kineticworks integrated with light projections. In 1968 he won a prize at theVenice Biennale for his work Elastic Space (1967). In 1985 hebecame the director of the Brera Academy.

CARLOS CRUZ-DIEZ [Venzuela, b. 1923]Cruz-Diez was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He studied at theEscuela de Artes Plásticas in the same city from 1940 - 1945. Hewould later teach at the same school and moved to Barcelona in1955 from where he travelled to Paris regularly. There he nurturedrelationships with artists such as Jesús Rafael Soto and SergioCamargo and became associated with the Galerie Denise René. Hereturned to Caracas in 1957 and was appointed assistant director ofthe Escuela de Artes Plásticas in 1958. His first series ofPhysichromies was completed in 1959. These three dimensionalworks of art make use of colour and light that change depending onthe position of the spectator in relation to them. The Physichromies

mark a pivotal point in his work and career. Since 1970 Cruz-Diezhas received a number of commissions all over the world for publicbuildings and spaces and remains active as an artist today.

GERALDO DE BARROS [Brazil, 1923– 1998]Geraldo de Barros was a pioneer of abstract photography in Brazil.He is considered to be one of the most important artists of theConcrete Art movement. He began his artistic career from 1948 inSão Paulo where he attended the Photo Cine Bandeirantes Club.During this period, de Barros began to create his Fotoformas seriesafter coming into contact with European photographic experimentssuch as those by artists Man Ray and Lázló Maholy-Nagy. TheFotoformas represent a new era of photography in Brazil. Byrendering common objects unidentifiable and by converting industrialstructures into geometric patterns, they leave the merely repre-sentational and give photography a conceptual complexity it hadpreviously lacked. In 1951 de Barros obtained a scholarship to studyin Europe where he studied at Atelier Dix-Sept, the workshop ofStanley William Hayter, and at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in UlmGermany (School of Form). It was there that he encountered artists

Page 53: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

51

such as Max Bill. In 1952 on his return to Brazil, de Barros along withother artists such as Lothar Charoux and Waldemar Cordeiroorganised the Ruptura exhibition at the Museum de Arte Modernade São Paulo. This exhibition marked the official inauguration ofConcrete Art in Brazil.

HERMELINDO FIAMINGHI [Brazil, 1920–2004]Fiaminghi was born and lived in São Paulo, where he studied atthe Art and Occupation School from 1936-1941. In 1942 hebecame disciple of Waldemar da Costa and worked in variousprinting firms, among them Lintas International Advertising.Fiaminghi became a member of Grupo Ruptura in 1955, threeyears after its inception. It was there that he first exhibited with LuisSacilotto and Lothar Charoux. Fiaminghi participated in theNational Concrete Art Exhibition in 1956 and in 1957. He alsoshared a studio with Alfredo Volpi for a while in 1959. Volpi’sinfluence may have contributed to Fiaminghi eventually breakingaway from Concrete Art. In a letter to Waldemar Cordeiro, hecriticised Concrete Art for its dogmatism and limitations.Nevertheless, he participated in the exhibition of Concrete ArtKonkrete Kunst in Zurich in 1960 on invitation by Max Bill.

ANTHONY HILL [Britain, b. 1930]Born in 1930 in London, Anthony Hill attended St. Martins School ofArt and the Central school of Art and Crafts, London. Initiallyinfluenced by Dadaism and Surrealism, Hill went on to experimentwith collage. His first group exhibition was at the I.C.A. in 1950entitled Aspects of British Art. With a number of artists includingVictor Pasmore, Mary Martin and Kenneth Martin he founded theConstructivist Group. They held a number of exhibitions, their firstbeing in 1951. From 1951-2 he went to Paris, meeting Picabia,Kupka and Vantongerloo. Hill abandoned painting, making his firstrelief in 1954. A retrospective of his work was held at the HaywardGallery, London in 1983. A one man show Anthony Hill Works 1954-

82 was held at Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London in 2003

JUDITH LAUAND [Brazil, b. 1922]In 1954 Lauand worked as a monitor at the International São PauloBiennial and came into contact with the work of Geraldo de Barrosand Lothar Charoux among others. Later, she was invited byWaldemar Cordeiro to join Grupo Ruptura and remained until its endas the only female member. She exhibited with them at such historicexhibitions as 1 Exposicao Nacional de Arte Concreta at the MuseoArte Moderna, São Paulo in 1956 and the Konkrete Kunst show inZurich in 1960. The 1 Exposicao Nacional de Arte Concreta markedthe beginning of the rift between the Concrete groups in the citiesSão Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The strict adherence to geometric

rigidity of the Concrete artists in São Paulo was looked upon as toodogmatic by many of the Concrete artists from Rio. Lauand was oneof Ruptura’s strictest adherents.

ANTONIO LLORENS [Uruguay, 1920– 1995]Llorens was an artist and graphic designer from Uruguay. Hebelonged to the Grupo de Arte No-Figurativo (1952) of which bothJosé Pedro Costigliolo and Maria Freire were founding members.Llorens used his precision as a graphic designer and successfullytranslated this onto canvas, painting geometric forms. He alsoformed part of Grupo MADI, a movement founded and lead byCarmelo Arden Quin, Gyula Kosice and Rodolfo Uricchio in 1946 inBuenos Aires. This group broke with traditional compositional rulesand extended its activity literally beyond the frame of the painting.Llorens exhibited at the second and third São Paulo Biennial in1953 and 1955 respectively.

RAÚL LOZZA [Argentina, 1911 – 2008]Raúl Lozza founded an abstract movement called Perceptismo. Allhis works, post-1947 adhere to this style. This was also the year thatLozza stopped exhibiting with the Asociación Arte Concreto-

Invención which he had been part of since its inception in 1945.Lozza’s change of heart was due to his wish to continue hisexplorations into the coplanal form, the physical separation of formsin space as a way of avoiding any kind of visual illusion. Others in theAsociación however, including Tomás Maldonado and Alfredo Hlito,were progressively moving away from the coplanal towards a moreEuropean style of abstraction and works that Lozza saw as beinglimited by the use of the rectangular frame. Lozza used the frameas a neutral colour-field for which to view the coloured forms. Hefurther separated these, by mounting them onto the colour fieldrather than painting them on.

HEINZ MACK [Germany, b. 1931]Born in Lollar, Mack moved to Düsselldorf in 1949, where he studiedpainting at the Düsseldorf Academy from 1950-53. He had his firstsolo exhibition in 1957 at the Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf. Between1956-8 he painted monochrome canvases with parallel lines,creating his first aluminium light reliefs in 1958. He is most renownedas one of the founder members of the ZERO Group. Founded in1957 along with Otto Piene, and later Gunther Uecker, ZERO aimedto break with all artistic practices that had taken place before,prioritising light, movement and space. The group organised anumber of experimental evening exhibitions in the Studio inGladbacher Straße, Düsseldorf, and published three editions of themagazine ZERO, before disbanding in 1966. From 1959 Mack madereliefs with light columns as well as motorised elements. Mack was

Page 54: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

52

honoured with the 1st Prix Arts Plastiques of the 4th Biennale deParis in 1965 and had a number of public commissions in the 1980sincluding the Jürgen-Ponto-Platz in Frankfurt in 1981.

KENNETH MARTIN [Britain, 1905– 1984]Sheffield born Kenneth Martin studied part time at the SheffieldSchool of Art from 1927-29, whilst also working as a graphic artist.He continued his studies at the Royal College of Art, London, wherehe met his wife Mary in 1929. It wasn’t until 1949 that he turned toabstraction, using proportional and mathematical systems, inparticular the Fibonacci system. Martin produced Kinetic mobilesculptures, demonstrating a concern with movement and change,until the end of the 1960s when he began a series of large paintingsand drawings which looked at the relationship between causality andorder. Kenneth & Mary Martin had strong international connectionsexhibiting in Koncrete Kunst, Zurich in 1960 organised by Swiss artistMax Bill. A retrospective of his work was held at the Tate Gallery,London in 1975.

MARY MARTIN [Britain, 1907– 1969]Born in Folkstone in 1907, Mary Martin Studied at Goldsmith Collegefrom 1925-29 before going on to the Royal College of Art from 1929-32. She married fellow artist Kenneth Martin in 1930. From 1934 sheexhibited mainly figurative works at the A.I.A. Martin turned toabstraction in 1950, making her first relief, based on the proportionalgeometry of the Golden Section, in the following year and her firstfree-standing construction in 1956. She exhibited with her husband,Kenneth Marin, at the Heffer Gallery, Cambridge in 1954. She alsoexhibited with the London Group from 1932. Her reliefs andconstructions utilise industrial materials such as glass and wood anddemonstrate a scientific and mathematical approach. A jointretrospective of Mary and Kenneth Martin’s work was held at theCamden Arts Centre, London in 2007

FRANÇOIS MORELLET [France, b. 1926]François Morellet was born in 1926 in Cholet, France. He was a self-taught artist and turned to geometric abstraction in 1950, exhibitingin the same year at Galerie Creuze, Paris; his first solo exhibition.Influenced by the simplicity of Mondrian’s visual language, Morellet’swork followed a strongly applied system. His paintings would besubdivided by horizontal and vertical lines either painted or in wirelattice. Morellet was more interested in the method than in theoutcome, reducing the artists subjectivity to the minimum. He was afounder member of the group GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d’ArtVisuel), established in Paris in 1960, a group of experimental Kineticartists. In 1963 he began using neon tubes which emitted luminous

rhythms, to investigate the relationship between perception and theenvironment. Morellet exhibited with GRAV in numerous exhibitions,including The Responsive Eye, Musuem of Modern Art, New York,1965. A retrospective of his work was held at the Musée Nationald’Art Moderne, Paris in 1986.

AURÉLIE NEMOURS [France 1910–2005]Born in 1910 in Paris, Nemours studied at the Louvre School of FineArts and later at the Academy of Andre L’hote in 1945 and at theAtelier Fernand Léger in 1949. She turned to abstraction in 1949,investigating the relationships between geometric archetypes, line,colour and form. Her first solo exhibition was held at Gallery ColetteAllendy in 1953. Nemours was involved in the activities of the groupsSpace founded in 1951 and Mesure both groups having close tieswith the New Realities group. She also exhibited with Galerie DeniseRené Paris in 1986, 1988 and 1995. A retrospective of her work washeld at the Centre Pompidou in 2004.

HÉLIO OITICICA [Brazil, 1937– 1980]Hélio Oiticica came from an upper middle-class background. Hisfather was a painter and photographer among other things, while hisgrandfather was a well known anarchist from Rio de Janeiro. Oiticicaopposed bourgeois values and political oppression. His anarchictendencies are detectable in his art and the way he created it,especially in his later career. In 1954 he studied with Ivan Serpa whoexhibited at the 1st São Paulo Biennial in 1951. Oiticica began hiscareer as a concrete painter and joined Grupo Frente in 1955. Hewas influenced by European painters such as Malevich andMondrian. Much like his close friend, Lygia Clark, he believed that artis a system of knowledge that is to be experienced directly by thespectator. Both artists, together with Lygia Pape, formed the Neo-

Concrete art movement in 1959 and continued to work together onseveral occasions creating art that involved the viewer and becameincreasingly progressive. In 1960 he was invited by Max Bill to takepart in the Konkrete Kunst Exhibition in Zurich. Oiticica also exhibitedat the Whitechapel Gallery London in 1969.

LYGIA PAPE [Brazil, 1927–2004]Lygia Pape, is famous for, not only being a founding member of theNeo-Concrete art movement, alongside Hélio Oiticica and LygiaClark, but also for being a leading pioneer of Brazil’s creative avant-garde in the late 1950s. Pape was born in Nova Friburgo, Brazil, andattended art courses at the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio deJaneiro. Before signing the Neo-Concrete manifesto, she wasmember of Grupo Frente, which formed part of the Concrete Artmovement. Pape first exhibited with them in 1954 and 1956. She

Page 55: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

53

addressed formal problems in her art by fusing geometric forms withthe natural design of wood, a material used by her on a number ofoccasions. She was also professor at the Universidade Federal inRio de Janeiro for a number of years.

BRIDGET RILEY [Britain, b. 1931]Bridget Riley is considered Britain’s foremost exponent of Op Art.Riley studied at Goldsmith’s College from 1949 to 1952 and later atthe Royal College of Art from 1952-1955. It wasn’t until 1960 thatshe began to paint her monochrome ‘Op’ pieces, in which thesystematic progressions of geometric patterns engage the viewerwith a disorientating visual experience. Her first solo exhibition wasat Gallery One in 1962. She won an International Painting Prize atthe Venice Biennale in 1968. After a trip to Egypt in the 1980sRiley began to explore the effects of juxtaposing colours in her works.Riley has had numerous retrospective exhibitions, including Tate,London in 2003.

LUIS SACILOTTO [Brazil, 1924–2003]Sacilotto was born in Santo André in the state of São Paulo. He wasthe son of Italian immigrants. After finishing school in 1943 he workedfor Hollerith Brazil as a designer. At the same time he furthered hisartistic career. While his paintings in the 1940s were figurative, by the1950s he became an integral part of the concrete art movement andof Grupo Ruptura which was formed in 1952. He and Da SilvaMavignier exhibited together in that same year. Prior to this, heexhibited at the first São Paulo Biennale in 1951 and later at theVenice Biennale in 1952. He further exhibited at the Concrete Artexhibition in São Paulo in 1956 and in Rio de Janeiro in 1957.Sacilotto was also invited by Max Bill to exhibit at the Konkrete Kunst

Exhibition in Zurich in 1960.

MIRA SCHENDEL [Switzerland, 1919– 1988]Mira Schendel was born in Zurich and moved to Milan to study artand philosophy. She abandoned her studies during the SecondWorld War and soon moved again to Brazil where she participatedin the 1st Bienal Internacional de São Paulo in 1951. During the1960s, Schendel made a series of drawings on rice paper whichpaved the way for a period of intense experimentation. She made aseries of twisted rice paper sculptures called Droguinhas (Little

Nothings), which she exhibited at the Signals Gallery in London in1966 on the recommendation of noted curator and critic Guy Brett.Unlike her artistic contemporaries Schendel chose not to convey thetumultuous Brazilian political situation through her art, but toconcentrate on formal issues alone.

JESÚS RAFAEL SOTO [Venezuela, 1923–2005]Jesús Rafael Soto was a major pioneer of the Op and Kinetic Artmovements. He was greatly influenced by the late works of PietMondrian and began to experiment with form and optical illusions. Hewas born in Venezuela but moved to Paris in 1950, where he camein to contact with artists Victor Vasarely and Jean Tinguely as wellas other artists connected to the Salon des Réalitiés Nouvelles andthe Galerie Denise René. In 1955 Soto renounced the primacy ofpainting becoming famous for developing a new way of expressingmovement through visual effects in his three-dimensional construc-tions. Later he made a number of wall-sized interactive sculpturesknown as Penetrables, made with a great number of hanging rods orthreads. In 1973 the Jesús Soto Museum of Modern Art opened inCiudad Bolivar, Venezuela.

KLAUS STAUDT [Germany, b. 1932]German concrete artist, Klaus Staudt was born in Ottendorf in 1932.Staudt studied medicine in Marburg and Munich from 1954-59 beforegoing on to study painting at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste inMunich from 1959-1963. Staudt became a member of the inter-national movement Nouvelle Tendance in 1963. His work demon-strates a systematic mathematical approach, organising small blockson a square grid, subtly altering the angle of each block to create afresh and vibrant work. The interaction and movement of light is animportant concern for Staudt, he was adamant that all colour shouldbe natural to the materials, often using coloured plexiglass to colourthe work. From 1974-94 he was professor at the Hochschule fürGestaltung Offenbach am Main and from 1974 he conceived andbuilt the Concrete Art Collection of the Landkreis Cuxhaven. In 1992Staudt was given the Honorary award at the 5th InternationalTriennial for Drawing, Wroclaw.

VICTOR VASARELY [Hungary, 1906– 1997]Many consider Victor Vasarely to be the founder of Op Art. Afterstudying in Budapest, he began his career working as a graphicdesigner and poster artist, where he made his first Op work. Duringthe 1940s he exhibited at the Galerie Denise René in Paris withworks of cubist, futuristic and even surrealist styles. Afterwards,Vasarely admitted he felt he was on the wrong track. From 1947onwards he began to develop a purely geometric abstract art.Vasarely spent time in South America, completing a large ceramicmural commission for the University of Caracas in Venezuela in1954. During this time he also made and exhibited Kinetic artalongside Jesús Rafael Soto and Jean Tinguely at the GalerieDenise René and elsewhere. In 1970 the first museum dedicated tohis works opened in France.

Page 56: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

54

Abstraction-CréationAbstraction-Création was a loose association of abstract artistsfounded by Theo van Doesburg in 1931. Based in Paris the groupaimed to promote abstract art by holding regular exhibitionsuntil 1936. Led by Auguste Herbin and Georges Vantongerloomembership grew to 600 and included every major abstract painter.The group published five annual publications.

Asociación Arte Concreto-InvenciónAsociación Arte Concreto-Invención was founded in Buenos Airesin 1945 by Tomas Maldonado. The group's manifesto advocatedscientific aesthetics based on invention rather than representation.While initially creating artworks with irregular frames, the groupeventually returned to a more conventional rectangular shape, inline with European Concretism. Members included Raúl Lozza andLidy Prati.

British ConstructivismConstructive Art and Architecture originated in Russia in the early20th Century. It was characterised as the use of industrial materialsand ideological mind set. British Constructivism however, refersspecifically to a group of British abstract artists working in the 1950sand 1960s that made reliefs and small constructions using perspexand metal. Artists included Kenneth and Mary Martin, Anthony Hilland Victor Pasmore and they exhibited as a group at the British

Abstract Art exhibition at the A.I.A. Gallery, London, in 1951.Inspired by earlier Constructivist aesthetics, many of the BritishConstructivists used mathematical theories to underpin thegeometric forms and rhythms they created.

Concrete ArtThis term was first employed by Theo van Doesburg in 1930 in hisMaifesto of Concrete Art published in Art Concret Magazine. MaxBill later continued the movement after Van Doesburg’s death in1931. In contrast to abstraction which seeks to reinterpret the world,Concrete Art is wholly detached from observed reality. It does notseek an interpretation of the object; rather it focused on its physicalproperties such as line, colour and plane.

Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV)GRAV was a Paris based group in existence from 1960-68. Membersincluded François Morellet and Julio Le Parc. The group aimed tohave a single identity, liberating their work from personal ambitionin favour of systematic collective research. The group used newtechnological innovations to create works which examined experi-ences, for example visual experiences or the active participation ofthe viewer. Works often used geometric forms to provoke theseexperiences with light and kinetic elements also.

Grupo de Arte No-FigurativoThis Uruguayan movement was formed in 1952 by José PedroCostigliolo and María Freire. The group did not propagate politicalviews but focused its practise on formal issues in art. Much like theconcrete movements, it rejected figurative painting, sculpture,interpretations of objects in the world and focused its practiceon geometric forms.

Grupo FrenteGrupo Frente formed in 1954 in Rio de Janeiro. Ivan Serpa was oneof its founding members. Other members include Lygia Clark, HélioOiticica and Lygia Pape. Working according to concrete ideals,artworks had to adhere to logical and clear principles. Grupo Frenterejected figurative painting and the interpretation of artworks. Artistsassociated with Grupo Frente eventually broke away from ConcreteArt in 1959 and established the Neo-Concrete movement in Brazil.

Grupo MADIGrupo MADI originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1946 and wasestablished by Carmelo Arden Quin, Rodolfo Uricchio and GyulaKosice. This group radically changed the framing of conventionalpaintings by cutting them into irregular shapes. The manifesto waswritten by Arden Quin in 1946. Artists like Gyula Kosice, AntonioLlorens and Carmelo Arden Quin first exhibited in 1946. MADI artwas often brightly coloured with irregular shapes and moveablewooden elements or mobiles.

Grupo RupturaGroupo Ruptura was formed and led by Waldemar Cordeiro in SãoPaulo in 1952 and marked the beginning of Concrete Arte in Brazil.

Glossary

Page 57: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

55

The Manifesto Ruptura, scripted by Corderio, advocated art as ‘ameans of knowledge deductible from concepts’. Their art conformedto concrete ideals and dismissed representational and figurativepractice. Grupo Ruptura represented a much stricter adherence tothe ideals of Concrete Art compared with Grupo Frente. Other artistswho formed part of this group include Lothar Charoux, Luis Sacilloto,Judith Lauand, Geraldo de Barros and Hermelindo Fiaminghi.

Gruppo TGruppo T, formed in 1959, was a Kinetic art group based in Milan.Members included Gianni Colombo, Grazia Varisco, and GiovanniAnceschi. Members shared an interest in time and space, usingdevices such as electric motors or iron filings to invite theparticipation of the spectator. The group had twelve exhibitionstogether entitled Miroriorama (‘thousands’ and ‘images’). LucioFontana was a great supporter of the movement. The groupdisbanded in 1962.

Neo-Concrete ArtThis Brazilian based movement marked a split from the rigid anddogmatic practises of Concrete Art. The Neo-Concrete movementemerged in 1959 in Rio de Janiero after the disbandment of GrupoFrente and included key artists such as Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clarkand Lygia Pape. It promoted the participation of the spectator with artobjects and the sensual experiences derived from this. Nevertheless,it still recognized its roots in Concrete Art and geometric abstraction.

Nouvelle Tendance (or New Tendency)Nouvelle Tendance was a loose association of international artistsactive in the early 1960s. It originated after an exhibition entitledNove Tendencije in Zagreb in 1961. Proponents emphasised theimportance of collective scientific research, utilising geometry andscientific systems in their works. The group had close ties withGruppo T and GRAV, members included Klaus Staudt.

Op ArtOp Art or ‘Optical Art’ refers to the use of monochromatic geometricpatterns to explore optical effects in the spectator. It originated withthe Constructivist practices of the Bauhaus. Many consider VictorVasarely to be the founder of Op Art, however, Bridget Riley andboth Jesús Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez, are also majorexponents of this style of art.

PerceptismoRaúl Lozza founded Perceptismo in 1947 in Buenos Aires,Argentina. In doing so, he broke away from Asociación ArteConcreto-Invención. He wanted to further explore the use of theplane and did so by experimenting with large areas of enamel onwood to create the type of surface which rejected any kind ofsubjectivity. He shared the idea of ‘. . . a collective art with a socialmessage’ of other Concrete Art movements. Nevertheless, he writesin his manifesto: ‘Perceptismo painting extols the elements of visualperception of art in the colour plane and thus creates arelationship between the viewer and the painting... ’. Lozza publishedPerceptismo magazine from 1950-1953.

Salon des Réalitiés NouvellesParisian based ‘Society of New Realities’ was founded by SoniaDelaunay, Jean Arp and others in 1939. It closed and then reopenedafter the War in 1946. The movement continued the practice ofAbstraction-Création, promoting pure abstraction through groupexhibitions. Exhibiting artists included Josef Albers and CarmeloArden Quin among many others. The group held its greatestinfluence in the 1950s.

Page 58: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i

AUSTIN/DESMOND FINE ARTPied Bull Yard68-69 Great Russell StreetLondon, WC1B 3BNT: +44 (0)20 7242 4443F: +44 (0)20 7404 [email protected]

MATTEO LAMPERTICO ARTE ANTICA E MODERNAVia Montebello, 3020121 MilanT: +39 (02) 36586547F: +39 (02) [email protected]

In association with Arevalo Arte, Miami

ISBN 978-1872926-32-2

Printed by Healeys Print GroupPhotography by Colin MillsCompiled and written by Emily Austin and Laura Harford with research by Stefanie Kogler

Front cover image: Detail, Raúl Lozza, Numero 278 (Perceptismo), 1950

Page 59: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i
Page 60: ABSTRACTION–CREATION...Abstraction-Creation seeks to explore this dialoguebetweentwocultures. A r t e C o n c r e t o M a g a z i n e N o. 1, A u g u s t 1 9 4 6, B u e n o s A i